


Within

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Attachment does not equal love in this fic, Fist and Kick Injuries, Gen, Heavy Angst, Internal Injuries from Beating, Jedi Culture Respected, Kadavo, Long-Term Emotional/Psychological Trauma, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 09:24:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13948617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: Kadavo turns out differently. Rex never really escapes the aftermath.





	Within

 

Rex didn't know what it was General Kenobi had done this time.

From the bewildered shock on the Jedi's face, he didn't know either.

But he'd learned not to ask.

Rex kept his head down, fists clenched around his shovel, forcing himself to wait. All he could do for now was watch, though every cell in his body _screamed_ at him to attack the slavers with his shovel, with his fists, with _whatever_ and _however_ until they stopped hurting his brother's Jedi.

The way Cody would fight for Skywalker, if Rex couldn't.

But it wasn't Obi-Wan Kenobi alone who had learned over the past week in this hellish facility on Kadavo...

So Rex stood still and watched.

Kenobi lay on his side, curling to try to protect his face, his guts—

But the Zygerrians had gotten in good kicks before he'd recovered from the initial shock of being so viscerally attacked, and even now his back was terribly exposed.

As was his head, despite his efforts with his arms.

It took a lifetime before the guards tired of their fun, spat on him, and walked away.

Rex remained crouched where he was, knowing better than to rush to the crumpled man's side.

“General?” he whispered.

For a long moment Kenobi didn't move. When he finally did, the movements were small, quivering, and there was a blank emptiness in his eyes and face that made Rex's stomach tie in knots.

Somehow Kenobi stood and got back to work.

_Yes._

Because if they didn't meet their quota...

Rex returned to shoveling the rocks, soul burning.

 

* * *

 

When the chance came, General Kenobi fought like a wildcat. Rex fought beside him, not sure they would survive, but he felt such a deep fury he wasn't sure he cared.

Yes. Rex murdered the unarmed facility director.

No. He had absolutely no guilt over it. No regrets.

And the Jedi hadn't even seemed particularly horrified.

A gunship came to rescue them, and soon Kenobi sat beside Rex, head bowed, shoulders hunched as the ship lurched up off the ground to head back to the cruiser.

The Jedi curled forward, a whimper escaping him, and then he hit the floor, shuddering as he clutched his stomach.

“Medic!” Rex cried only to discover that Kix was on a different ship.

The Captain dropped to his knees by the Jedi's side, saw sweat beading on the man's brow, even though his wrist was cold to the touch.

Quiet moans underscored the gunship's engines, and that glassy emptiness had taken hold of the Jedi's eyes again.

When they reached the cruiser, medics and Skywalker rushed to them, all of them alarmed.

Rex stepped out of their way, only to have Kenobi rasp, “Rex?”

“I'm here, Sir.” Rex edged his way to his side again, crouching down.

He read hell in those eyes, eyes that didn't seem to realize he was no longer trapped.

Eyes that thought he might die alone.

_Internal damage,_ Rex knew, before the medics announced it.

_Fatal._ The Jedi's request for him had told him so...

And then Kix murmured the truth.

A broken sound came from Skywalker.

But it was Rex's wrist Kenobi grabbed with weakening fingers, squeezing so tight it hurt.

And Rex's, the only friendly face the dying Jedi seemed to be able to see.

Skywalker was talking, gripping Kenobi's shoulder, trying to get his master's attention and shrieking at the medics—

Kenobi's pleading eyes found Rex's.

Asking for— what? Peace? Life? Understanding?  
Rex didn't know what to do, so he placed his free palm against the Jedi's cheek.

_I'm sorry, Sir,_ he thought, taking a breath to try to quiet his own anger. Breathing the way Ahsoka had once shown him how, he focused simply on how it felt to draw air into his lungs...

Creating a safe port in the storm for Kenobi's soul to latch hold of.

He was rewarded with a squeezed wrist and an expression of gratitude as tears filled those blue eyes.

Obi-Wan slipped away quietly.

It was everyone else who was loud.

Rex sat by the corpse and felt tears run silently down his cheeks. He looked up, found Cody standing at the base of the ramp looking devastated.

_I'm sorry, brother._

_You entrusted me with your Jedi, but I couldn't bring him home._

The limp hand over Rex's wrist slid away as Skywalker dragged the body up into his arms, holding tight and crying silent tears, his protests over.

Eerie quiet fell.

A stillness that invaded Rex's soul and never quite left him, even decades after the war.

There would always be moments when he thought he could hear vicious boots connecting with flesh and bone.

It would be something he carried inside him long after Skywalker, Ahsoka, and Cody had all disappeared from his life.

If he was fully honest with himself...

He was as broken as Wolffe or Gregor. He just managed to hide it inside himself where no one else could see.

 

 


End file.
